the girl who obsessively loves everything.

Tag: Adrian Ivashkov

Whew. I’m done. I feel like I’ve been reading these books forever – even if it’s only been 2.5 months. The reason it took so long was partially just general book hangover from my end-of-2014 push and partially availability from my library. I had to wait 2 weeks just to get The Fiery Heart (book 4) from the library. Meanwhile, Silver Shadows & Ruby Circle were just chillin in my library basket next to my bed. Taunting me.

So, I’ve reviewed the first half of this series here, complete with a general synopsis. Today I just want to talk about how those thoughts have changed/remained the same since finishing out the 6th book. I do try to keep my reviews pretty vague so as not to divulge too much plot information. If you’d like to discuss this series at any length, you can add me on Twitter or Goodreads & I’d be more than happy to talk about vampires for eternity 🙂

GENERAL THOUGHTS

I had initially said that I felt like Bloodlines is a superior narrative to Vampire Academy. I’m not entirely sure that I still feel this way after reading the last 3 books. Maybe now they’re dead even. Maybe VA is just the tiniest bit better as a whole. I feel like Richelle Mead tried to accomplish a few too many things with Bloodlines & it made the last half of the series feel disjointed from the first half. Not enough to make me dislike the series, but certainly enough to deflate my lofty opinions following The Indigo Spell.

CHARACTERS

Here’s where this series hooked me. I LOVE the characters. I love Sydney Sage. I LOVE Adrian Ivashkov. It was great that this series had so many characters that you really got the opportunity to know & love. Not just passersby who may or may not be useful in helping the main characters along their story arc. Actually, the attachment I feel to all the characters in this series is akin to the way I feel about the peripheral characters in Harry Potter. You really get the opportunity to connect with them and it’s awesome.

STORY ARCS

TOO MANY STORY ARCS. Sometimes this works. In this instance, it was the biggest downfall, I feel. If even ONE of the ongoing conflicts in this series had been eliminated, I feel that it would have been a more cohesive story. It was just too much at the end. And, honestly, the fact that there were so many conflicts to resolve made book 6 kind of annoying. Like, I get it. But I almost feel like their solution was too easy. It was practically a one-size-fits-all solution to every problem they were facing at the time. You remember the end of Breaking Dawn? It kinda felt like that….all this buildup & then nothing REALLY happened. Well, ok, not NOTHING. It got pretty intense. But it didn’t meet my expectations.

CONCLUSION

In the end, I’m glad to have read this series. There’s so much I want to take with me and so many scenes that really moved me. It’s upsetting when the conclusion of a series is less than you’d hoped for, but that’s the way things go, right? God. It sounds like I’m giving the last half a really terrible review, doesn’t it? I’m not. I promise. Here, allow me to clear this up. My individual book ratings:

I just finished reading “The Indigo Spell” by Richelle Mead, which is the 3rd book in the Bloodlines series, so I thought I’d give a mid-series review & we can see how things change once I finish out the last 3 books.

Series Background

So, before jumping into Bloodlines, you MAY want to read the Vampire Academy series. Yes, it’s another 6-book series, but it is great. It’s everything a YA Vampire series SHOULD be. Romantic, exciting, scary, snarky, & none of this damsel in distress/ depressed over my boyfriend crap that a *certain* series took to the extreme. It’s not 100% necessary to read VA first, but Bloodlines carries quite a few of the characters over into this new narrative, and without really experiencing what they went through in the original series, I don’t feel like you’ll have the same emotional connection to them. The recap is pretty thorough, so I don’t feel like you’d be completely lost, but there would definitely be some holes in your comprehension of the characters’ motivations, etc.

Jumping into a 12-book commitment might sound a little intimidating, but it’s been completely worth it to me. The books are pretty light (apart from the 400+ page counts) & easy reads with tons of momentum & action to keep you turning pages. Also, there are LOTS of characters – like, Harry Potter lots, not Song of Ice and Fire lots – so even if you don’t identify with the main protagonists, you’re sure to find someone to love.

Comparisons?

Comparing the first 3 books of Bloodlines to the entire series of Vampire Academy is a complicated beast, seeing as this narrative hasn’t resolved itself yet (for me). HOWEVER, I will say that my current opinion is that Bloodlines is the (marginally) superior story line. I find that I connect more with the characters (Sydney Sage is SO much more my speed than Rose Hathaway, although watching Rose kick ass & take names was always a good time) and that the whole Alchemists organization is much more intriguing to me than what I felt to be a very straight-forward good-vs-evil theme in VA. In other words, Bloodlines feels more like a conspiracy theory/ thriller-type plot, while Vampire Academy was more of the action/ adrenaline/ romance plot. Both are great, Bloodlines is just a tiny bit more my style.

Thoughts on Books 1-3

In the first 3 books of this series, you are re-introduced to somewhere between 5-10 characters that appeared in Vampire Academy. The younger characters go undercover & attend a private school in Palm Springs, and that’s when shit starts to go down. All I can really tell you is that the Alchemists exist to protect the human world from discovering the existence of the vampire world. Most Alchemists are terrified of Moroi (the good, magic-wielding, sun-dwelling vampires), but the real threat is the Strigoi (evil, immortal, freakishly strong, stuff-of-nightmares vampires). Anyway, the Alchemists view all supernatural creatures as unholy & tainted. They would have nothing to do with the Moroi if it weren’t for their vow to protect the humans from supernatural creatures. The purpose of this undercover-op is to prevent an all-out civil war between the Moroi, and Sydney Sage is among the group sent in the field.

So far, I have loved this series, but the 3rd book took a little while to really grab my attention. I powered through the first two books in a matter of 3 days, but the 3rd one took me a few weeks. I feel like some stuff went down at the end of the 2nd book (The Golden Lily) & should have continued into the beginning of The Indigo Spell, but got put on pause until basically the very end of it. Also, there were a LOT of concurrent plot lines & threats going on in the 3rd book. It was kind of hard to keep track of who knew what & what was top priority. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it did make this 3rd installment feel more chaotic than I liked.

I finished The Indigo Spell pretty late last night, but couldn’t stop myself from picking up The Fiery Heart (book 4) & I’m already hooked on that one (after like 15 pages, because that’s when I fell asleep), so hopefully my qualms with book 3 don’t carry over into the rest of the series. Excited to have a little time to devote to this one tonight!

Well, I decided to join in on 5 Fandom Fridays with Super Space Chick & The Nerdy Girlie. I have been following both for only a few weeks, but I love reading everyone’s roundups on Friday mornings – so I thought I should be a participant, rather than a lurker.

This week is all about love, because Valentine’s. Duh. So here’s a list of my top 5 fictional character pairings. I don’t usually ship characters myself, so I’m just going with favorite couples that are actually couples. And….go.

1. Sydney Sage & Adrian Ivashkov (Bloodlines). I’m only halfway through the 3rd book of this series, but I’ve been obsessed with Adrian since Vampire Academy. I was really rooting for his happiness in that one, but I think it’s definitely going to happen in this series. For real. I love Adrian’s enigmatic personality & how he completely balance’s out Sydney’s neuroses. I’m a wholehearted believer of the “opposites attract” trope when the characters are solidly planted at opposite ends of the personality spectrum. I can’t wait to see how this relationship plays out in the last half of the series!

2. Lala & Jesus. True Blood consumed a lot of my life while it was on the air, and I loved nothing more than watching Lafayette & Jesus fall in love. They are so devoted to one another & it kills me to think how happy they could have been if they had only lived ANYWHERE other than Bon Temps. I love Lafayette SO much that I can’t bring myself to read the books because I’ve heard he’s not in them. WHAT? Unacceptable. I’ll probably still read them, anyway. Obviously.

3. Felicity & Oliver. Dear GOD, just be together already! You want it, we want it. Just do itttttt. It makes my heart hurt to think about how close they are to perfect happiness.

4. Windows & Zoe. Ok, I’m getting to squee levels in my head, here. I can’t even express how much I love the movie Fanboys. And it’s even harder to explain how much I love Windows (Jay Baruchel) and Zoe (Kristen Bell). This is one of those relationships that plays out in an exaggerated version of how it would have happened in real life (I mean, the whole movie is just over-the-top, so what do you expect??). I love that Zoe can hold her own with the boys in the comic shop & that she swears like a sailor and isn’t afraid to show her boobs to prove a point. I love that Windows is so laser-focused on his online girlfriend that he’s oblivious to anything going on around him. And while the culmination of their feelings for one another is a little cringe-worthy, it’s still got a lot of heart & makes you believe in love for nerds everywhere. I could probably write an entire tome about this movie.

5. B’Elanna Torres & Tom Paris. The ultimate OTP for me, is B’Elanna & Tom Paris (Star Trek: Voyager). This is the first adult relationship I watched unfold on screen & it’s among the most realistic fictional relationships I think I’ve ever seen. They are completely devoted to one another, but that doesn’t mean they like each other all the time. Their personalities clash & there is some pretty intense drama, but they always come back because they love each other.

Top 3 Honorable mentions:

Buffy + Spike. I knew this one would cause a lot of controversy, but it’s one I’ve always felt strongly about. I’m currently re-watching the series & will hold my opinions until I’m all the way through, since the last time I saw it I was around 16 years old. Re-watching as an adult has changed my opinion of a lot of things about the series, so far. But as of the middle of Season 5, I’m still team Spike.

America & Maxon. Oh god, The Selection series. How it has invaded my mind on many a sleepless night. Seriously. I finished The One way back in May and I STILL have dreams about the characters. Maxon Schreave is probably one of my biggest fictional crushes. America’s a little too flip-floppy for me though.

There you have it. All in the mood for romance this weekend. This was really fun & I can’t wait to participate in next week’s 5 Fandom Friday! How about you? Any OTP’s that you’re super passionate about?

Until next time ❤

[#ogf]

#introductions

Hi! I'm Christa & I'm obsessed with pretty much everything. I love learning about new things & geeking out over life. I dream of vampires & unicorns. I have a storm trooper tattoo and a reading list that will last me the rest of my life. Also, I can't stop buying makeup. Let's be friends!